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Rwandan Cabinet gives green light to AfCFTA protocol

A cabinet meeting on Wednesday approved the draft law ratifying the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which aims at easing intra-Africa trade.

This comes barely weeks after the majority of African Union member countries (44) signed the agreement that will see Africa becoming the biggest free trading bloc in the world.

The protocol was assented to during the just-concluded 10th Extraordinary African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government which was held in Kigali.

The cabinet meeting that was chaired by President Paul Kagame also gave a green light to protocols on trade in goods, trade in services, and one on rules and procedures for settlement of disputes, according to minutes signed by Cabinet Affairs Minister Solange Kayisire.

The instruments will now head to parliament for ratification.

During the Kigali meeting by continental leaders, it was agreed that with 22 ratifications, the Agreement establishing the AfCFTA will enter into force.